Drug and Alcohol Verification in the Transportation Industry

Whether on or off the clock, not only can the abuse of alcohol and illegal drugs by your employees be detrimental to the business as a whole, but could also endanger the safety of other employees, your business’ customers, and the general public.

This is especially true if your business is in the transportation industry. The last thing you want is for an employee’s ability to drive a company vehicle to be impaired by a mind-altering substance. Therefore, we thought it’d be a good idea to go over a few simple reasons why enlisting the assistance of a seasoned background search company for driver employment and drug/alcohol incident reporting is not only a good idea but is an absolute must in the transportation industry.

You Must Comply with FMCSA Regulations

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) requires that motor carriers and companies with private fleets must obtain three years of work history on each job applicant. In addition to basic employment history, this background check must include any DOT-recordable accidents, plus the results of all previous drug and alcohol tests administered to the applicant. An experienced background search company is a lot more efficient in obtaining this information, so you can rest assured that you will be FMCSA-compliant throughout the process.

Results of Impairment Can Be Disastrous

Legal or not, when the use of alcohol or drugs is out of control, this can impact a person’s ability to show up to work on time, adhere to critical safety procedures, perform quality work, stay on task, and relate effectively with customers and other employees. On the behavior side of things, this can often create a ripple effect within any company as one employee’s disruptive actions branches out to others. In the transportation industry, however, the effects of using these substances, both on and off the clock, can have much more disastrous results. In some cases, the lives of other employees, customers, and the general public are literally in an employee’s hands, and that is something that must be taken very seriously.

Ease Your Employees’ Stress

No matter which industry you’re involved with, employees expect and deserve a safe working environment. When a person is under the influence of drugs or alcohol, his or her fellow employees will be under additional stress, especially when they personally feel at risk of injury or worse whenever this person is around. The transportation industry consists of large machinery in the form of various vehicles that require the utmost safety and care at every moment to ensure everyone’s safety. Checking into someone’s background is one way that a business owner or hiring manager can ease this stress when bringing on a new employee.

Background Search Companies Know What They’re Doing

The primary reason that a qualified background search company must be used for driver employment and drug/alcohol verification is a very simple fact: the researchers employed by these types of companies have the experience necessary to ensure that everything is done properly. The searches you order will be thorough and adhere to all required guidelines, including those in the transportation industry. These companies can also be more thorough than required – going back five years instead of three, for instance – with minimal added research time. This level of flexibility makes them indispensable.

If a potential or existing employee has a history of drug(s) or alcohol abuse, especially if you’re in the transportation industry, it’s best that you know about it right away, take measures to ensure everyone’s safety, and/or opt not to hire that person for the position in the first place. To learn more about background checks, criminal records searches, drug tests, and various types of verification, reach out to the experts at NationSearch.